Sunday, 29 July 2012

Israel has always had powerful enemies within the US administration, dating back to the Secretary of State Marshall who tried his best to prevent Truman recognising the state of Israel. Unlike Obama, Truman was willing to give Israel a chance. In the last year of the Bush administration the CIA headed off a green light to Israel to attack Iran's nuclear industry with a doctored report the so called 'intelligence estimate' which said Iran had given up attempts to make nuclear weapons in the early years of 2,000. This was nonsense as the IAEA report made clear recently.Now the CIA is at it again, most likely at the behest of the Obama administration which will go to any lengths to stop its allies from defending themselves. Obam has single handedly ruined the USA's reputation throughout the world. The US is known now for selling its friends down the river. This has had a knock on effect not only for Israel, but for China flexing its muscles in Asia, threatening war against the Philippines and now occupying islands that belong to other nations of Vietnam and Philippines.This propaganda against the USA's best ally in the middle east should stop, but I fear it won't until the american people have seen the last of its president who hates the USA and its allies.

The CIA station chief opened the locked box containing the sensitive equipment he used from his home in Tel Aviv, Israel, to communicate with CIA headquarters in Virginia, only to find that someone had tampered with it. He sent word to his superiors about the break-in.

The incident, described by three former senior U.S. intelligence officials, might have been dismissed as just another cloak-and-dagger incident in the world of international espionage, except that the same thing had happened to the previous station chief in Israel.

It was a not-so-subtle reminder that, even in a country friendly to the United States, the CIA was itself being watched.

In a separate episode, according to another two former U.S. officials, a CIA officer in Israel came home to find the food in the refrigerator had been rearranged. In all the cases, the U.S. government believes Israel’s security services were responsible.

Such meddling underscores what is widely known but rarely discussed outside intelligence circles: Despite inarguable ties between the U.S. and its closest ally in the Middle East and despite statements from U.S. politicians trumpeting the friendship, U.S. national security officials consider Israel to be, at times, a frustrating ally and a genuine counterintelligence threat.

In addition to what the former U.S. officials described as intrusions in homes in the past decade, Israel has been implicated in U.S. criminal espionage cases and disciplinary proceedings against CIA officers and blamed in the presumed death of an important spy in Syria for the CIA during the administration of President George W. Bush.

The CIA considers Israel its No. 1 counterintelligence threat in the agency’s Near East Division, the group that oversees spying across the Middle East, according to current and former officials. Counterintelligence is the art of protecting national secrets from spies. This means the CIA believes that U.S. national secrets are safer from other Middle Eastern governments than from Israel.

Israel employs highly sophisticated, professional spy services that rival American agencies in technical capability and recruiting human sources. Unlike Iran or Syria, for example, Israel as a steadfast U.S. ally enjoys access to the highest levels of the U.S. government in military and intelligence circles.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly about the sensitive intelligence and diplomatic issues between the two countries.

The counterintelligence worries continue even as the U.S. relationship with Israel features close cooperation on intelligence programs that reportedly included the Stuxnet computer virus that attacked computers in Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities. While the alliance is central to the U.S. approach in the Middle East, there is room for intense disagreement, especially in the diplomatic turmoil over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

"It’s a complicated a relationship," said Joseph Wippl, a former senior CIA clandestine officer and head of the agency’s office of congressional affairs. "They have their interests. We have our interests. For the U.S., it’s a balancing act."

The way Washington characterizes its relationship with Israel is also important to the way the U.S. is regarded by the rest of the world, particularly Muslim countries.

U.S. political praise has reached a crescendo ahead of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s scheduled meeting Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Their relationship spans decades, since their brief overlap in the 1970s at the Boston Consulting Group. Both worked as advisers for the firm early in their careers before Romney co-founded his own private-equity firm. Romney said in a speech this past week that Israel was "one of our fondest friends," and he criticized Obama for what he called the administration’s "shabby treatment" of the Jewish state.

"The people of Israel deserve better than what they’ve received from the leader of the free world," Romney said in a plain appeal to U.S. Jewish and pro-Israel evangelical voters.

Obama, who last year was overheard appearing to endorse criticism of Netanyahu from then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has defended his work with Israel. "We’ve gotten a lot of business done with Israel over the last three years," Obama said this year. "I think the prime minister - and certainly the defense minister - would acknowledge that we’ve never had closer military and intelligence cooperation."

An Israeli spokesman in Washington, Lior Weintraub, said his country has close ties with the U.S.

"Israel’s intelligence and security agencies maintain close, broad and continuous cooperation with their U.S. counterparts," Weintraub said. "They are our partners in confronting many mutual challenges. Any suggestion otherwise is baseless and contrary to the spirit and practice of the security cooperation between our two countries."

Saturday, 28 July 2012

One method archaeologists use to date buildings are by finding artifacts beneath them. That inevitably involves destroying the original building. How else would you get to the strata underneath it? The Temple retaining walls were built on bedrock, which is one reason they have withstood earthquakes over the milennia.

Palestinian arab archaeologist Jamal Amro has however managed to find 17 coins predating the Western Wall that were underneath it. He doesn't say how he managed to do this, or how there can be another archaeological strata where objects can be found underneath a wall built on bedrock.

This lie that the Western Wall was built after 16 AD after coins were 'found' underneath it is too ridiculous to lend credence to. But the lies come thick and fast, such as the one that never seems to go away of Israel plotting to destroy the Temple Mount mosques. That Israel could have done this any time in the last 45 years, and would have done so by now if there was any truth in this is too much for Israel's detractors to think about. They will keep repeating the lies, as this is all in a 'good' cause of undermining Jews, their history and their legitimate claims in Jerusalem and Israel (before the state of Israel was established many jews were killed in pogroms after such claims of trying to harm the Temple Mount mosques).

The 'archaeologist' doesn't say how he managed to extract the coins from under thousands of tons of wall without hurting himself. You'd think this person would be ashamed to put his name to such an obvious lie, and to bring it to a conference, even of sympathisers. Does hatred of jews forbid any participants at such conferences from allowing their common sense to work?

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Palestinian archaeologist Jamal Amro declared he made a discovery of 17 ancient coins that vindicated further the false story and belief of Jews about their alleged temple in occupied Jerusalem.

The coins date back to 16 AD, which means they were minted 20 years after the death of Herod the Great whom the Jews allege he built the second temple, Amro added.

He demonstrated his finding on Monday in a news conference held by the Islamic-Christian commission for the support of Jerusalem and the popular national congress of Jerusalem in Ramallah city.

The archaeologist told the attendees that these coins were found under Al-Buraq wall (wailing wall) which is claimed to be the western wall of the alleged Jewish temple.

He added this discovery confirmed that the building of the wall happened after Herod in the era of Roman ruler Valerius Gratus.

He also stated this discovery left the Jewish archaeologists in a state of shock and frustration because it just proved further their false claims and beliefs about the legend of the temple.

All archaeological discoveries that were found before this one in the Arab city of Jerusalem and around the Aqsa Mosque date back to ancient Arab and Islamic eras especially the times of Umayyad and Abbasid reigns up to the Ottoman rule, the Palestinian archaeologist said.

Thursday, 26 July 2012

It must hurt the Waqf that jews who visit the Temple Mount are peaceful tourists. Amongst all the pictures taken by the Waqf there are non which show any disrespect or bad behaviour. Which isn't surprising as this is after all Judaism's holiest shrine.

But that doesn't stop constant accusations of 'provocation' and of 'storming' the area. But what can we expect from an institution the head of which is foaming at the mouth in wishing for a new Holocaust to take place.

It must be said that this Maan article is mild in comparison to that put out by the Waqf:

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Dozens of Jewish worshipers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque guarded by Israeli soldiers on Monday, the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said.
Around 58 Jewish worshipers and 28 Israeli soldiers toured the mosque, the foundation said in a statement. Such visits are provocative, particularly in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the group added.
The Al-Aqsa compound, containing the mosque and the Dome of the Rock, is the third holiest site in Islam and abuts the site where Jews believe the ancient Second Temple stood. Some in the far right in Israel propose building a Jewish temple on the sanctuary.
The flashpoint site is under the custody of the Islamic endowment authorities, and visits by Israeli extremists have been roundly condemned by Palestinian officials.

This Alt-Neu strategy attempts to deal with muslim discrimination and ethnic cleansing of christians. Various christian denominations, most notably the Catholic and Anglican churches subscribe to the thesis that by underlining just how much christians have in common with muslims in their hate for Israel, christians will be protected from the consequences of arab and islamic bigotry towards christians and jews. This hasn't been true in the past, and it isn't now either.

Christian communities throughout the middle east are being decimated by islamic intolerance, almost without protest by established churches. The only protests we hear about are when Israel is lambasted for fictitious acts against christians. Christ At The Checkpoint was one of the more recent acts of infamy linking the fable of Jesus' suffering and the deicide, to that of the invented torments of palestinian arabs today.

That conference showed that the basis of support for palestinian arabs by christian churches is inspired by the old hatred for jews, of the replacement theology which can never come to terms with a thriving Israel. Israel according to this theology should not exist, and jews should never again rear their heads in their ancient land. For such people, Israel is a constant provocation, just as it is a never ending "aggression" for arabs and muslims.

So majority christian hatred for Israel is an unsurprising thank you to Israel for its toleration of minorities, the full equality given them by Israel, the help that Israel is all to ready to extend to the christian community. As Israel has never asked for loyalty and thanks from its christian communities, it rarely gets any. Just the opposite, there is a veritable war against Israel by most christian denominations in Israel of which the Greek Orthodox are one of the most inveterate. Its archbishop Capucci was caught in Israel gun running for the PLO. It seems that the Church will only thank those who beat christians, that murder them, that kidnap and convert them to islam, that ethnically cleanse christians. Israel can't win as it will never stoop to returning an eye for an eye, no matter what the provocation.

Israel will keep to its ideals, will remain an oasis of peace and tolerance for all in the middle east. The Israel which extends full civil rights to jew, muslim, bahai, christian and all others without favour or discrimination is the Israel I love and cherish. This is what encourages me above all to defend it.

Archbishop Theodosius Atallah Hanna stressed Wednesday the necessity to protect Palestinian Christians and rejected any efforts to undermine their rights.

During a visit to Ma'an in Bethlehem, he said “they (Palestinian Christians) must be preserved because their absence is considered a big loss for everyone including Muslims.”

Commenting on claims of foul play by relatives of two Gaza Christians who converted to Islam, Hanna said that “Christians are not mercenaries or fifth column, they live in their homeland Palestine and among their people.

“They should be respected and kept as they are an integral part of the homeland”.

He rejected treating people differently according to their religion and stressed the necessity of equality between Muslims and Christians. He also emphasized the need to live in a civil state that respects citizens equally.

Regarding events in Syria, Hanna said Syrian people’s fair demands must be supported and he rejected any exploitation by other countries of these demands.

He added: "We rejected violence, murder and torture since the beginning of the Syrian events. Syria is under a global war that aims at weakening it and an attempt to spread religious strife into it."

He reiterated his opposition to Israeli plans aiming to to "Judaize" Jerusalem and Palestinian holy places in addition to stealing their land. He called Israel "an illegal country."

He concluded by demanding that Arabs and Muslims take responsibility for Jerusalem and Palestine.

It is of course interested to contrast the Bishop's straightforward denunciations of Israel. E.g. of 'Judaising' the Jewish ancient city of Jerusalem in which they have been in a majority in since records began (ever heard of the Bible Archbishop?), with the euphemism and indirect speech directed at muslims. There is no direct denunciation of arab ethnic cleansing of christians, or of the murder of christians or of the forced conversions, only a plea that christians be recognised as palestinians like any other, to be able to live without discrimination.

Sorry Archbishop, the only place where you will find christians soon in the middle east will be in that country you hate so much, and where you live, Israel. Christians are in the process of being wiped out of arab countries, not a little because of your behaviour and that of other cowardly church leaders who believe that by following the age old prescript of kicking jews when problems in society arise, they will curry favour with the islamic bullies.

If christian churches had united to protest, to publicise christian plight in the muslim world, to demand in world forums and in countries where the Church has influence, then things might have been different. It's already too late for Iraq's christians.

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

After yet another posting by the Elder of Ziyon showing a group of religious jews with young children walking around the Temple Mount, I decided to put what he says each time this happens to the test.

Are the Waqf really so hate filled, so intolerant that just the fact that jewish religious tourists' feet tread on that holiest of areas sacred to jews throughout millenia can be taken by muslims as 'provocation'? Is this enough for the muslim Waqf to write about "occupation" and "storming" of the mount? Are the jews not doing something to provoke all this invective, this emotive language?

The Waqf object to the jews taking pictures, but take many of their own. The pictures of the jews show them simply walking around and doing nothing in particular. If these are the worst pictures that the Waqf can find to portray the terrible behaviour of the jews, then this speaks volumes not of the jews but of the brimming over hatred for jews per se by the muslim authorities who control the Temple Mount. There is no recognition at all of Moshe Dayan's magnanimous gesture in 1967 which left the jews' most holy place in muslim hands, all in the cause of peaceful coexistence. More fool you Moshe. A lifetime living with arabs, understanding their language, and still not understanding the basic dynamics of the middle east. If you have power you have peace. If you are perceived as weak you will be attacked.

That jews setting up a tripod to take pictures arouses Waqf wrath brings yet again into question any possibility of ever coming to an agreement with palestinian arabs, of any chance of ever living as equals, side by side together in peace. Jews don't want to lord it over arabs, just to live peacefully with them in Israel. That is too much for the Waqf and its religious leader the Mufti, the supreme religious authority for palestinian arabs.

The Waqf piece alludes to the so-called 'science' students who seem to be a paramilitary force, of being prevented from rioting by the 'occupation' force. Religious jews with their kids peacefully walking around and learning about their history is obviously the utmost provocation for these people.

The problem is therefore not anything the jews are doing, but that they exist, that they are there. The jewish visitors' very peacefulness is a 'provocation' to those anti-semites who long for the times when they could drive a herd of sheep and cattle through the jewish worshippers praying in the narrow space at the Kotel on Yom Kippur. This was a new innovation by the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin El Husseini with the connivance of the British Mandatory authorities. They in collusion with the Mufti in the 1920's forbade the blowing of the shofar on the most holy day of the year for jews.

When jews tried to erect a mechitza (a curtain to separate men and women) at the Kotel, this was the pretext (nothing changes, as now the call was that el Aqsa was 'under attack') for the arab riots throughout the country in which hundreds of jews were killed and injured, the ancient jewish community living in Hebron attacked with many killed. The community was ethnically cleansed and remained so until 1967. The interesting thing is that the jews were not even 'zionists', just apolitical jews living as they had always done with their muslim arab neighbours. The riots only happened because of perceived weakness of the authorities. The arabs saw that the British were either with them, or would do nothing, and used the opportunity to play out their hatred against jews.

Of course whilst the Ottomans ruled Israel, if a jew was caught on the Temple Mount of in the Cave of Machpela in Hebron he would be lynched. Just to go to the Western Wall during Jordanian times needed production of a baptismal certificate by foreigners.

Arabs take the long view, see the jews as crusaders and bide their time until jews can be evicted and killed as 'crusaders on holy muslim ground'. The Mufti of Jerusalem could not have made himself clearer only a few months ago in a talk (rather an emotion filled bout of screaming, the spewing of hate filled invective) to the 47th Conference of the terrorists of Fatah.

Yet again my thanks to the 'Elder'. The wall of hostility by our
foes can not be broken down by any gestures we make. Israel must keep up its guard and remain
strong, until such time our arab neighbours tire of violence and war, as happened with the Germans. This didn't happen after the First World War but only after terrible devastation and losses to the German people. Germans needed to
have their nihilistic wish and efforts to destroy our people and build a
German empire bombed out of them. After at least 4 million dead, Germany learned to hate war. Arab intransigence and aggression
must similarly follow such a process, which is maybe happening now in
Syria if not elsewhere.

There is nothing we can do to change the realities other than
refuse to be intimidated by threats of violence, to peacefully assert
our rights to visit our holy place such as the Temple Mount , and to
defend ourselves aggressively when we are attacked.

Israel despite itself is condemned to always live in an armed peace, to never let down its guard, and moreover to never make the slightest concession unless matched by our opponents. Concessions have always been misinterpreted in the past, as weakness by Israel, and not as an olive branch, a concrete sign of Israel's wish to live in peace together.

The many concessions by Israel have always led to more incitement and conflict, and it is because of this refusal by Israel to learn from past mistakes that Israel, is to blame for arab efforts against it on every level. If Israel gives something for nothing, to the arab mind and culture unexplainable weakness which leads to more threats and demands. This is the middle east, not post modern europe, and Israel's politicians must understand.

The Translation is by Google and therefore not always easy to understand. The message is however clear, the Temple Mount should be 'Judenrein':

For a third day in a row: storm and the desecration of the maximum:Trapping
Msatab science students after the arrest of one of them and threaten
others by preventing them from entering the Al-AqsaIn
a summary of the developments taking place in the al-Aqsa mosque said:
"Al-Aqsa Foundation for the stop and Heritage" in a statement Tuesday,
24/7/2012, about 30 settlers stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque and desecrated
its facilities, but the interesting thing is today transferred witnesses
from "Institution Building-Aqsa and the holy sites" A
group of four settlers from the group "Attiyrat Cohanim" extremist,
including two children, stormed at the tenth-Aqsa mosque by the Mughrabi
Gate, carrying a video camera with a stick installation, and the
Mughrabi Gate turned directly towards Midhat cup and has one of the
settlers photographed the children and an interview with the settler the
other on a bench by the cup, try a guard of al-Aqsa mosque to prevent
them from shooting, but police occupation confronted him, and insisted
on allowing the settlers photography, and occurred between the guards of
Al-Aqsa and the occupation forces Mlasna reciprocal, and in the
meantime, combine a number of occupation forces to guard the settlers
during the imaging process by the settlers who have completed pictorial
tour around the eastern side, it is likely that these settlers were
preparing a report for television broke into the extreme.He
adds witness during his interview with "Al-Aqsa Foundation" It's in
these moments, a number of older students terraces of science and turned
towards the east to get to know the truth of what is happening there,
and immediately suffered three of the Special Forces and two officers
and members of the police occupation and cordoned off the area,After
the out settlers from the door of the series gathered police and
officers on the ring science students and arrested Abu Ayman - Ghassan
Younis, one of the students Msatab flag and threatened to others that
they will not allow them to enter the al-Aqsa mosque, and they know that
the possession of cameras and they will work to prevent the
introduction of these cameras to Far,
in the same sustenance occupation forces prevented a school science
project Msatab from the use of a small loudspeaker was used to provide
one of science lessons in the Al-Aqsa.

In
the same context has confirmed that "Al-Aqsa Foundation" The number of
settlers from the day they perform rituals of Jewish and Talmudic
Temtemat and rituals in different parts of the Far, especially next to
Bey off the Dome of the Rock.

So
in this charged atmosphere stressed occupation forces on the worshipers
entering the Al Aqsa Mosque to perform the noon prayer, and since the
morning hours present in the arena of maximum scores of students of
terraces of science and an audience of worshipers from the people of
Jerusalem and the pioneers of the march of flags and the number of
visitors from different regions.

This
followed the "institution-Aqsa" on these events by saying: "We see what
happened today in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and what happened in the last
days of break-ins and the desecration of the Aqsa Mosque, and previous
statements from agencies of the Israeli occupation, look at them into
danger, and we stress that the occupation will not work to
impose the status quo in the Al Aqsa Mosque, and to make incursions and
attacks on Al-Aqsa and as is normal, we emphasize that the al-Aqsa
mosque is a prerogative of the Muslims and Muslims alone, also emphasize
that the presence of the occupation in the Al-Aqsa is the presence of
occupation of the void, which is evanescent in the near future, but we
stress again the importance of intensifying tension pack up and increasing daily communication early in the Al Aqsa Mosque. "

Tuesday, 24 July 2012

In my previous article, "Thinking the unthinkable about Lebanon, shiites and Hezbollah", I predicted that if the Assad regime in Syria is defeated, there will be a catastrophic shakeup of the middle-east, not all to the detriment of Israel, and very possibly much to its advantage. I further hoped that Israel is now in its post-Turkey phase actively encouraging the Kurds to take this possibly never to be repeated opportunity to wrest another portion of their nascent state away from Syria.

Today I read that this is indeed happening, that the Iraqi autonomous Kurds have been training Syrian Kurds, that there is what appears to be a united command being formed, and that the Syrian Kurdish region is now at leat semi-independent of the Assad regime. Happily Assad is not interested in picking a fight with the Kurds, and only too eager to let them pose a headache for Turkey next door. Turkey is of course training, protecting and supplying the islamists fighting to bring Assad's regime down. The weapons and money are s upplied mainly by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the USA. Obama gave Turkey's islamist government responsibilty for the supply of the opposition to Assad with the predictable result that the islamists gain. Michael Totten believes that the islamists will nevertheless not have it all their own way once Assad falls as there are to many fissures in Syrian society. But the counter to that is that with enough brutality any rule can be imposed, such as that of the Assad family all these years, or the unpopular Mullahs in Iran, or a sunni majority regime post Assad. Force of arms has time and again been shown to be the antidote to any lack of popular support.

The news could however hardly be better. Non-arab Kurds, natural allies of Israel have at the very least a loose federation now. Turkey has 14 million restive Kurds with no love at all for the Turks occupying their lands. Their territories in eastern Turkey (which also contained a million Armenians until the genocide) make up a third of the total land in the present Turkish state.

And then there are the Kurds of Iran, who could right now be wondering when their turn will come? And come it well might if sanctions are made to bite even harder. A collapse of the Iranian economy may well lead to the large population of restive Azeris and the Sunni minority to look to their own futures away from Iran.

The tectonic plates are shifting in the middle east, and the picture is not all bad for Israel. Indeed, the slow burn of Syria is the best of all possibilities, steadily weakening this most implaccable of Israel's foes, a country responsible for thousands of dead Israelis, for a generation to come. One can not rejoice over killing, but both sides in the Syrian civil war have great hatred of jews and Israel, and would turn their guns on Israel if given the opportunity. That they choose to kill themselves means that much less of a chance of Israelis, jews and arabs being killed by terrorists from Syria or Lebanon.

There is a lesson here not only for Israel, but for the USA, that it is not always helpful to intervene in other people's disputes. Rarely does it work out as previously anticipated and Israel has learned this lesson well from its past ventures (justified) into Lebanon. This time Israel steered well clear of helping either side in the civil war, a wise policy. It might be nice to see a group friendly to Israel take power in Syria, but failing that impossible situation arising, then what is happening now could not be bettered. The Assad regime and its opponents are bleeding the country, which is very possibly going to split asunder into separate cantons ruled by the different tribes and ethnicities. As a unitary country Syria could possibly cease to exist.

Which brings us again to Lebanon. In my previous article I surmised that maybe the shiites could be weaned off their enmity for Israel once the reality of their position amongst a sea of sunni hostility sinks in. The Lebanese shiites have been sitting pretty for many years in their radicalism and acts of aggression against not only Israel but against the Lebanese people. And as if they did not have enough enemies, the Lebanese shiites seem to have backed the wrong horse in Syria. Well they weren't really given an option, as the minority shiite/alawite Syrian regime has protected and supplied them all these years, giving them the feeling of a deep hinterland all the way to Iran. But that is all about to end.

Iran's long arm in Lebanon is looking intensely vulnerable. Once Assad goes, Hezbollah is in shtuch. The Lebanese might very well sink again into civil war and the christians and sunnis, along with the Druse might soon be looking to rid themselves once and for all of Hezbollah, and settle some old scores with the shiites in the south. Of course there is a large shiite enclave in Beirut that could be the first to feel the heat. The shiites in the south, as the christians before them could well change their spots and look to Israel's support as a replacement for that of Iran. Israel would do well to encourage this split in the shiite camp when the time comes, during a future Lebanese civil war. This could see Hezbollah ceasing to exist. Israel's north would then be protected by a new buffer as in the 1970's.

In the Lebanon alliances are ephemeral, Israel must be prepared to take advantage of situations when they happen.

And all this with hardly a mention of Turkey's problems such as its economy wedded to hot credit, consumption and tourism that has slumped this year. Arab and Iranian tourism has melted away. Long term Turkey has an aging population, unlike the Kurds.

And as for Israel, it will keep growing and gaining strength as long as it keeps its head, and doesn't have any more Olmerts who wish to give Israeli lands to its enemies (Did you know that Russia was given a mass of real estate in the centre of Jerusalem, courtesy of Olmert?). Despite our leaders, we can always depend on arabs to help. If Abbas had accepted all the lands Olmert had offered in 2008, Israel would have become in defensible again.

Sunday, 15 July 2012

I read this article by Jonathan Spyer about sunni restlesness in Lebanon after
I wrote my article about why Israel should support the Kurds.

Spyer sees the Arab or rather Sunni
Islamic Spring coming to Lebanon soon. Should this happen, Israel
will very possibly find the Hezbollah threat replaced with an effective
unitary islamic state from Turkey right down to Egypt, in effect a new
caliphate (Jordan would not last beyond tomorrow without Israel's
suppport, and would Israel be prepared to intervene even there in a
civil war, Syrian style?).

This adds a further impetus for Israel
to act now, to reach out to Kurds so that they will take this once in
a century opportunity to change the fate of their people.

A Syrian-Iraqi Kurdish state will put
the fear of God (if they don't have it already) into Iran and Turkey
with their own large populations of Kurds.

But what is moreover interesting is
what will happen on Israel's northern border.

If Syria falls to the islamist sunnis,
Hezbollah will find it very difficult to be resupplied by Iran,
(which might also find its own populations revolting again if the
economic problems get much worse).

As the region goes Sunni, Israel could
very well find that Hezbollah has its back to the wall, and that
shiites in Lebanon discover that Israel isn't their most pressing and
hated enemy after all. As Spyer said, allegiences change in Lebanon,
and nothing can be ruled out.

Israel might yet find that it has
another opportunity in Lebanon and it should be prepared to reach out to
the shiite community there. Israel might even soon find that Lebanese shiites come knocking on its door, and not with the intention of kidnapping soldiers either. Israel must be prepared to think laterally.

And if you say that Nasrallah is an
implaccable foe, I refer you to the fate of his predecessor:

Nasrallah became the leader of Hezbollah after the Israelis assassinated the previous leader, Musawi in 1992

Saturday, 14 July 2012

Israel has now got a rare opportunity to tilt the strategic balance in the region in its favour and to right a historic injustice.

Israel has found itself between a rock and a hard
place with regard to Syria as both sides in the civil war are
implaccable foes of Israel (ditto Egypt as nationalists and islamists are in wholehearted agreement when it comes to Israel) . The military opposition which will bring
Assad down is mostly made up of islamists. They have the fanatical motivation,
the finances and the weapons. The weapons and finance come courtesy
of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with even more finance and non military supplies
and very possibly special forces aid being provided courtsesy of Britain and the
US.

The UK and the US can never resist
interfering in far flung theaters of war, even when they only half understand
the dynamics of a conflict. Libya should have been a salutary
lesson, having brought anti-western fanatics and Al Qaidah into power
in that now fractured country. Ghadaffi was a broken reed, no threat at all to the west, and for the last ten years even cooperating with the west. But Obama doesn't see west hating islamists as a threat. He's even now trying to strong arm Egypt's Tantawi to handing power over to the Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi.

And islamists from the Libyan conflict
have moved to destabilise surrounding countries. Mali is now split,
with fanatical islamists controlling the north. Shariah along with
its 'merciful' punishments are now the norm. Even mosques aren't
safe when of the wrong pedigree.

But the US under Obama is determined to
support the Syrian islamists to overthrow Assad, a nasty piece of
work if ever there was one. But as Russia supports Assad Obama is
bringing the west again into conflict with Russia for no good reason.
Assad might be an enemy of the west, but the islamists that will
replace Assad are no more friendly. And western aid is going to the
islamists, as Obama's best friend in the middle-east PM Erdogan of
Turkey is the channel through which US support is being funneled to
the the opposition.

Israelis are giving Syrian refugees
aid, and Israel should leave it at that. There is no reason for
Israel to mix in the civil war. If Assad falls, Hezbollah is in
serious trouble and Iran will be pushed out of the region as far as
Iraq. But then Israel will face an almost continuous islamist front
from Turkey down to Egypt.

I hope when Netanyahu received Putin
the other week in Jerusalem, he reassured Putin that Israel has no
intention of helping to overthrow Assad.

But that doesn't mean Israel should do
nothing. It is in Israel's interests to see Syria weakened, to lose
its Kurdish provinces, and for those provinces to unite in however
loose a form with the Iraqi autonomous Kurdish regime (a state by any
other name). The Kurds are not arabs and are have no love for Iran
and Turkey. The Kurds are also increasingly restive in Syria, having
no love for that regime either.

So whilst the UK and the USA follow
their misguided policy of aiding islamists everywhere and in Turkey,
and in promoting the islamists in Syria, Israel can follow a parallel
policy of aiding the Kurds to realise their state in part of Syria.

The spin off from aiding the Kurds in
Syria is that Iran's convoys will be less secure having to traverse a
route close to an ally of Israel. Syria will also have to watch its
back in future conflicts with Israel. All this is independent on
whether Syria does or does not fall to the islamists.

The Kurds in Turkey are forever
restive, already are 20% of the population there and increasing in
population as opposed to ethnic Turks who have a reproductive rate
less than replacement level. Turkey is going to find it increasingly
difficult to control the Kurdish east in coming years, to prevent
Turkish Kurds with a high birth rate from breaking away from Turkey
to form an alliance with Syrian and Iraqi Kurds.

If Israel wishes to protect its
interests in the middle-east, it should be aiding Kurds who are at
least in sympathy with Israel than waste its limited resources on
Syrian refugees who have no love for Israel.

Israel needs to train Kurds for the day
they will become independent and now is the best time to initiate the
process. If the Assad regime does fall or is seriously weakened, a
nascent Kurdish army will be armed and made ready to take over the
eastern provinces of Syria, just as the Haganah defeated the
palestine arabs even before the British Mandatory regime left in
1948.

It will soon be time for the Kurds to
rise and unite with Iraqi autonomous Kurds.

Israel should not let this opportunity
slip to radically alter the map in the middle-east. At one and the
same time it will begin the process of righting a historical
injustice against the kurds committed by British imperialists who
split the Kurdish nation between four countries; it will also drive
an ethnic wedge into the arab middle-east, an ally against Israel's
major arab and Iranian enemies to the east.

And lastly Turkey which has turned
itself into an enemy state working against Israel on all levels
internationally has no good options. It has threatened to invade
Syria to stop the Kurds gaining independence, but if Israel trains
kurds now, Turkey will find it bites off more than it can chew when
fighting to suppress the Kurds.

A Turkish military invasion of Syria
and campaign against the Syrian Kurds will very possibly be too much
to resist for the Ottomanist islamist Erdogan, but this will bleed an
already shaky Turkish economy and non too efficient Turkish military
whose top commanders are mostly in prison. Israel must train Kurds
not only to fight for their independence but again, as with the
Haganah, prepare them to regroup into armies once their independence
needs to be defended. This will be easier than in 1948 as the Iraqi
kurds already have an army.

A Turkey with its hands full in the
east will be less of a problem for Israel in the west.

For Israel to give the kurds the sort
of support they need, Israel has to finally understand that Turkey is
now lost to islamists. Turks understand this, but Israel still
doesn't seem to fully realise that it has lost its erstwhile ally.
And this despite Erdogan trying very hard to help Israel get the
message.

Israel is finding doors closed to it
wherever Turkey has influence, such as in Nato, and even a US
sponsored conference on terror. Of course the Obama administration
preferred to give in to Turkish blackmail and deinvite Israel rather
than face down Erdogan and support its real ally.

And let's not forget the Mavi Marmara
episode deliberately designed by Erdogan to bring about a rupture
between Israel and Turkey. And then the war threats last year, the
sending of Turksih warships off the coasts of Cyprus and Israel. And
the warships are still there.

So we must be thankful to Erdogan to
that extent. It's better the enemy you know, than to have Turkey
stringing Israel along, giving Israel hope for a reestablishment of
the old friendship.

That water is now under the bridge and
Israel must reach out to the Kurds.

I haven't found the time to supply links in support of the above article. If you think links would be helpful then i'll try to find time to oblige.

Friday, 13 July 2012

The BBC can not change its spots. Ever since its inception in the 1930's it has propagandised against jews and Israel. So an arab winning a TV talent show is an opportunity not to praise Israel's open and non- discriminatory society but the very opposite. To stress that this israeli arab is a 'palestinian' who is discriminated against just like sepharadim supposedly are in Israel is just grist to the daily dish of BBC hatred against jews and Israel. Of course an anti-Israeli jewish reporter is used in evidence for the allegations.

Yesterday's offering from the BBC was its highlighting in its health section of an orthodox, black garbed Israeli jew who was caught selling human organs. The BBC journalist who found that must have been ecstatic. Strangely the article has been moved off the front page. The massive Chinese trade in body parts, after first executing the donors is of little interest to the BBC.

The old BBC, the old hatred, all the old tropes.

Rosenbaum traded in organs to the delight of the BBC

BBC uses every opportunity to bash Israel, as here with Nisren Kader winning Israeli song contest

Mizrahim arrived in Israel from countries like Morocco, Tunisia, Iraq, Yemen and Iran in the years following its establishment.

They were met with condescension by the European establishment who saw them as inferior and threatening because of their resemblance to the perceived Arab enemy.

They are a group that is still under-represented in Israel's institutions of power and are economically disadvantaged.

Rachel Shabi, a Mizrahi journalist who has written extensively on the subject, says Palestinians and Jews from the Middle East suffer a similar type of cultural discrimination in Israel.

"Ultimately nationalism trumps everything," she explains. "If you have this entry card called Jewish you will be less discriminated against than if you are Palestinian, but there are shades of discrimination and I think the thing that they both share - Palestinians and Jews from the Middle East - is cultural discrimination dictated by the European minority."

"If you look at Israel, how it presents itself is European, despite a majority population which is Middle Eastern, if you combine the Palestinian Israelis and Jews of Arab or Muslim lands."

Despite several areas of common ground, there is no real closeness between Israel's Arab citizens - who mostly identify as Palestinian and make up about 20% of the population - and the Mizrahim.

The establishment of the democratic State of Israel against all the odds is among the greatest of the Jewish People's achievements. Although the odds are still loaded heavily against Israel a country of 7 millions the country not only survives but has managed to build a world reputation for excellence in many fields, not least that of medical science. The latest life saving invention is that of a non-invasive method of evaluating bodily fluids in patients with sepsis. This invention will very possibly save hundreds of thousands of lives each year throughout the world.

Along with greatness, our people have great weaknesses, many amongst us who for their own reasons decide to sell out their people, whether because of a marxist ideology, anachronistic bundism, self-enrichment or advancement or in an attempt to curry favour with gentile society, often, but not always inimical to Israel.

It is not difficult to identify formerly jewish enemies of our people, from the admitted genius of Chomsky to the pathetic sycophantic British establishment wanabee Jonathan Miller who signed up to a boycott of Habima's recent production of Shylock at the Globe theatre international festival. Miller did not involve himself in boycotting the Syrian actors who took part whilst their President slaughters their people, just the jews. As such Miller placed himself outside the bounds of our people, an enemy of the one country which affords full rights to arabs living there.

Obama always used front groups and individuals to attack Israel

J Street which purports to be 'pro Israel' was set up suspiciously near to the election of Obama in 2008. It has consistently aligned itself with Obama administration policies attacking Israel. Rather than being pro Israel J Street is a trojan horse, an organisation headed by anti-Israeli jews and funded opaquely. One supporter has been speculator Soros, another former jew is known only for his demonisation of Israel and funding for its opponents.

J Street was established in order to counterbalance AIPAC and other organisations supporting Israel, to promote arab inspired propaganda, to support palestinian positions and to undermine Israel in the USA by showing Israel and its government's policies in a negative light. When a jew or a non jew hears arguments attacking Israel from a supposedly pro Israel and jewish source there is more chance they will believe them than when coming from an openly pro arab source. As such, the Obama administration has been running a black propaganda effort against Israel for years now.

And now before the elections J Street has dropped the fig leaf, and openly begun to campaign against Israel's friends in Congress under the guise of promoting peace.

Until recently, according to J Street spokeswoman Jessica Rosenblum, “J Street has been working defensively, standing up for candidates who stake out pro-peace, pro- Israel positions. Now we’re taking it to the next level.”

The ads represent a new offensive posture of going after politicians whom the organization believes hurt the cause of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

A look at J Street's website shows that it has no criticism for Palestinians who have never stopped their anti-semitic incitement against jews and their constant terror against Israel.

J Street attacks only Israel for understanding the depth of arab hatred for Israel, that there is no peace on offer. Where are J Street's condemnations for the palestinian advocacy of the 'one state solution' where arabs are constantly exhorted by its leadership to aspire to 'return' to Haifa and Tel-Aviv?

"J Street is very concerned by the tremendous amount of financial support
flowing into the Romney campaign and into Super PACs supporting it from
individuals like Sheldon Adelson and Irving Moskowitz who adamantly
oppose a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Where is the condemnation of arab anti-semitism such as that of the present Mufti of Jerusalem who only a few months ago called for the annihilation of the Jewish People?

"The Hour will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jews will
hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: Oh
Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."

It must not be forgotten that the Mufti was attending the 47th Anniversary of Fatah, a supposedly secular terror organisation committed to Israel's destruction and responsible for the murder of hundreds of jews. The Mufti was introduced by the Fatah spokesman describing jews as 'sons of apes and pigs'. Palestinian President Abbas is the head of Fatah.

J Street peddles the myth that a two state solution is possible whilst arabs are bent on the destruction of Israel and daily call for the killing of jews. J Street seems unaware that the calls to kill jews are broadcast at every level of society, on Palestinian TV, to adults and even children.
J Street whose efforts at propaganda against Israel is directed overwhelmingly at undermining americans' sympathy with the tiny country, is an anti-semitic organisation. Although J Street is awash with money from largely unknown sources to fund paid adverts against our christian friends it will not succeed. Thank you Representatives Joe Walsh and Allen West for refusing to be intimidated.

Jews recognise that our best friends are often christians, americans who know what is right whether they are Republican or Democrats. They understand that Israel is America's best and most true ally, that all Soros' and Saudi oil money to NGO's dedicated to the destruction of Israel (and ultimately the USA as well) won't undermine the lasting relationship between Israel and America, two democracies always threatened and under attack.

"I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" Genesis 12:3

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains
frozen, contradicting judgment two years ago that Tehran was working
relentlessly toward building a nuclear bomb.

And now we have near constant reports such as the one below, about how Israel will supposedly only be able to put back the Iranian nuclear program by a year, and that even the USA can't do the job........

This latest Pentagon report is just more blather, of american intelligence linked strategists led by Obama who are working non stop to dissuade Israel by any means from taking responsibility for its fate and attacking Iran. Of course Israel now only has a tiny window of opportunity to attack Iran's program before it goes fully underground and not vulnerable to conventional bombing. Obama is constantly working to reduce that window, by using black propaganda against Israel and by threats and cajoling. Israel last year said it only had until this October to attack, and now we hear that Israel won't attack before November so as not to upset....... Obama and his election.

Netanyahu the mature politician and statesman ran rings around Obama last year, turning the tables completely. Obama had surprised Netanyahu as he was on the way to the US with a demand for the Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 'borders' with 'mutual swaps.' When Obama then tried to push his betrayal at the G20, Canada scotched the plan. But Netanyahu is sailing very close to the wind now. Israel will suffer from attacking Iran, but there seems little choice, Iran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons no matter what the cost. Ahmadinejad and his lunatic minions and media remind us of the necessity of pulling their sting almost daily now. And attack Israel must. It is time for Netanyahu to ignore Obama, attack and then explain why to the American people. Americans will most likely be most understanding, as unlike Obama, they have the measure of the threat from Iran, and they've not forgotten Khomeini's hostages.

From the Jerusalem Post:

Iran’s military has "boosted the lethality and effectiveness of existing" ballistic missile systems with "accuracy improvements and new sub-munition payloads," according to a Pentagon report. Portions of the document were declassified on Wednesday after having been presented to Congress last week.

Iran's military improvements are occurring in parallel with regular ballistic-missile training that “continues throughout the country” and the addition of “new ships and submarines,” the report concluded.

The report repeats the long-standing US assessment that Iran with “sufficient foreign assistance may be technically capable of flight-testing” an intercontinental ballistic missile by 2015.

In February 2012, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said in a CNBC interview that Israel estimates Iranian missiles will soon be capable of reaching the United States.

Iran is investing billions of dollars, Steinitz said, to develop inter-continental ballistic missiles. "We estimate that in two to three years they will have the first inter-continental ballistic missiles that can reach the east coast of America."

Iran also continues to develop ballistic missiles which can reach regional adversaries, Israel and Eastern Europe, including an extended-range variant of the Shahab-3 and a 2,000 kilometer medium-range ballistic missile, said the Pentagon report.

The report also disclosed that Iran is improving the "survivability" of its missile arsenal, code for saying that Iran has strengthened its missile counter-measures against potential attacks.

Sunday, 1 July 2012

Tomorrow I am in Israel for a week and will possibly be unable to post anything until my return. One of the things I shall be doing is visiting a development town where there is possibly some stealthy missionary activity happening.

I may be wrong, and I hope i'm wrong, because christians who love jews should not be automatically dismissed as having an ulterior motive of effectively wiping out the jewish people. We have had so many bad experiences that we have maybe become all too cynical and afraid of even those who mean us well.

I believe that nowadays there are christian groups who love us as jews, who accept that their salvation will come about through the jewish people, and not by replacing them, and that they deserve a fair hearing.

We must be very careful about branding all christians with the same brush, but welcome those who love us, whilst treating with just contempt the Bishop Tutus of this world, those who come mealy mouthed to us, professing love but whose only motivation is that of hate, of a desire to attack our people, to subvert jews by undermining Israel, by painting it as an 'apartheid' state, who wish to convert us. Jews are always under attack by so many foes.

So we have to be careful, but at the same time we must not subject our real christian friends to an inverted prejudice along the lines that "all christians are the same", all are that man who has made himself an enemy of our people, Tutu. Just we object when anti-semites aver that "all jews are the same" (mean, crafty, perfidious, wow so many epithets are flooding into my consciousness..... i'd better stop here) we must not fall into the same trap of hating christians.